Portret van een man met bril, genaamd Hendriks c. 1912

Floris Arntzenius made this drawing of a man with glasses, Hendriks, in 1912. It's rendered in charcoal, with the soft, crumbly quality of the medium giving the image a lovely, hazy feel. I can almost feel Arntzenius’ hand moving across the paper, building up the tones with quick, scribbled lines, then smudging them to create these subtle gradations of light and shadow. It's like he's trying to capture not just Hendriks' likeness, but also something about his inner life. The way he’s used the charcoal so expressively, focusing on the contours of the face and the way the light catches the glasses, is great. The portrait reminds me of other artists like Käthe Kollwitz, who also used charcoal to create these really intense, emotional portraits. There is a history of artists responding to artists, I love that idea. It’s like a visual conversation that stretches across time. Each artist picks up the thread from the last, adding their own voice to the mix.